July turns in Spruce Canyon

“You’re skiing? Where? There’s still snow? You’re crazy!” The gawking tourists at the park were in full bloom this past weekend as we hiked past on our way to the snowfields. As we got deeper in their numbers tapered off and we eventually broke free from the trail altogether and were on our own. With loaded packs, Jonny, Moski and I ascended towards Spruce Canyon, a remote area none of us had been to before. We were warned by a ranger of the dense “impassable” trees there, but it they turned out to be manageable. We set up camp just below treeline beneath Spruce Pass with great views of the surrounding lines. Just as the fly was up we heard the first rumblings of thunder, and promptly hunkered down. In the morning we woke and skied this: Then this: Then headed back up towards the divide to ski Ptarmigan: It was plenty of work for just a few turns, but we all agreed it was well worth it. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI0A86YnyDU']